When to pull the honey supers...

The blackberry nectar flow on the Willamette Valley floor is starting to slow, but there is still plenty of other nectar available.  A good rule of thumb is to remove honey supers by first week in August.  As with all such rules, there are plenty of exceptions. For example, higher elevations still have plenty of blackberry flow.  But it is prudent to allow the bees plenty of time to make up any deficits in winter stores. Also the varroa mite population is high this time of year, so a good time to do a mite treatment is shorty after removing the honey supers.